Envy

Holy Tradition says:"Virtues are eaten away by envy as the fire consumed wood".To feel jealous and sad and seeing anyone flourishing and in property and to be pleased when he is in distress or trouble,it is called envy.It is a great vice and sin.Such person's life passes in misery and bitterness.It is unpleasant in this world and hereafter.Every effort should be made to get rid of this evil and its remedy is to realise the fact that envy is painful and injurious to anyone's own-self and it does not harm at all the person envied.The great loss of an envious person is that his virtues and good acts go waste,because to envy is like finding faults with Allah as to why He gave prosperity to that person and not to him..Thus,envy is,Allah forbid,confrontation with Allah and the greatness of such sin is obvious.The apparent loss of envy is that envious person always remains in grief and it is of no loss to the other because anyone's prosperity will not decrease by it.On the other hand,the virtues of the envious person are transferred to the person envied.May Allah protect us all from this vice.Ameen.
(Quoted from my favourite book,Bahishti Zewar by Hakeemul Ummat,Maulana Asyraf Ali Thanwi Rahimahullah)